Bill Gates tests a new generation of condoms

By: Pavel Urusov | June 23, 2015 15:32

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is working on the creation of a new generation of condoms. The main requirements for contraceptives of the future are two. First, they must be as effective as existing solutions. Secondly, they should have less influence on the pleasure of sex, and it is desirable - to influence it in a positive way.

Testing of experienced condoms for strength with an air pump

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is working on the creation of a new generation of condoms. The main requirements for contraceptives of the future are two. First, they must be as effective as existing solutions. Secondly, they should have less influence on the pleasure of sex, and it is desirable - to influence it in a positive way.

As you know, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is engaged in helping developing countries, and first of all - combating various infectious diseases. In particular, the Gates couple is funding a vaccination program against polio, which is the most common cause of disability in developing countries. Condoms have come to the attention of four philanthropists because they are very effective in fighting AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases (according to clinical trials, their effectiveness is 98%). However, they use only about 5% of men in the world, and mainly in developed countries. This is due to the fact that condoms negatively affect sensations during sex.

In 2013, the Gates Foundation announced a grant of $ 100,000 to develop "a new generation of condoms that largely preserve or enhance the enjoyment of sex." In total, more than 800 proposals came to the competition, 11 of which came to the finals. Among the finalists were condoms from graphene, condoms with a built-in lubricant dispenser and condoms that were originally made "off the shelf", but after putting on they are reduced to the desired size under the influence of the heat of the human body (to some extent they can be called the heat shrink tube analog, used in electrical engineering). Testing of prototypes was conducted on the basis of California Center for Family Health (California Family Health Center, CFHC) in San Diego. The projects that passed the second stage of the selection could potentially receive a grant of $ 1 million.

So far, additional funding has received three developments:

the already mentioned "decreasing" condoms developed in the CFHC;

internal condoms Origami, which are a hybrid of condoms and sex toys;

Apex condoms made from processed beef collagen, providing more natural sensations than plastic.

Origami condom creator Danny Reznik with his brainchild

It is still unknown if any of the prototypes of the main condom of the future chosen by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will become. But one thing is quite obvious: modern condoms, existing in their present form for more than 120 years, must give way to something new.